


eyes of the beholder

by Veslya



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 11:44:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13974432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veslya/pseuds/Veslya
Summary: The Outsider's Mark enables the user to effect change in the world - but in return it changes them.Corvo has dismantled an entire coup without spilling a drop of blood. But Daud, Monster of Dunwall, is different.AU in which excessive use of magic leaves permanent marks





	eyes of the beholder

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out darker than I thought it would be and I apologize.

Corvo didn’t even attempt to hide the sound of his footsteps as he strode through the former Chamber of Commerce Building, looking for Daud, the sword unfolded in his hand. There were no Whalers around, he had made sure of it - his supply of sleep darts had taken a hit, but they hadn’t been the ones to kill Jessamine. They hadn’t been the Void creature that had killed his beloved. 

A short glimpse with Dark Vision  _ (-soon, soon you will  _ **_see forever, everything_ ** _ , no need for the Mark, the Void will be a part of you, guide-) _ showed him his target: A monstrous amalgamation of tentacles and wings, attached to something that barely resembled a human. Daud, the Monster of Dunwall. The incarnation of everything the Abbey of the Everyman feared, a walking lesson on self control, a man who had left his humanity behind so long ago it could barely be recognized - or maybe he had never been human at all. 

Here was the creature who had murdered Jessamine in cold blood.

Corvo rubbed his forehead, trying to forget the phantom feeling of an additional eye, then pushed the doors open with enough force to make them crash against the wall, plaster trickling down from the decrepit ceiling. His adversary looked up, eleven eyes blinking simultaneously as innumerable tentacles moved aside to reveal what remained of his face. The sight of it had frozen Corvo the first time he had seen it, holding him in place long enough for some of the inhuman limbs to grab him, holding him in place while Jessamine…

Daud pulled the cigarette from between his teeth and raised an eyebrow. “There you are, bodyguard. I had wondered when you’d come for me.” He pushed away from the wall he had been leaning on. Wings unfolded on his back, skeletal abominations seemingly only held together by bits and pieces of torn leather and the Void’s blessing. Corvo gripped his sword tighter, waiting for an opening.

For a moment there was silence, then…

_ (-soar above it all, look down and  _ **_see_ ** _ that-) _

_ (-the world is yours, mine,  _ **_ours_ ** _ now-) _

_ (-take it, take it, take it-) _

**_(You are the Void, the Void is you.)_ **

The whispering broke through Corvo’s concentration like a whale falling off a cliff - unexpectedly but with a lot of force behind it. He flinched and stumbled backwards. The Mark, did it…? But when he looked at it, it was black, inert. He wasn’t using magic, wasn’t risking Void corruption. He was safe.

Why, then…

A gasp across from him redirected his attention to his opponent, who luckily seemed busy with his own problems. He had grabbed his head with his left hand - the only one he had, Corvo realized belatedly, and judging by the strange flickering running through it that was more luck than design. Nine pitch-black eyes continued to stare into the Void while the normal ones were squeezed shut. The Mark on Daud’s hand glowed - no, it  _ burned _ , bright flames reaching up until they enveloped the wings on his back. 

A crack sounded, two, followed by a groan. Then the light receded, showing the change in the wings - they had grown, not excessively so but enough for it to be visible - a sign of power overuse.

But how? Daud hadn’t used any magic, at least not visibly. Did the corruption spread on its own? Would Corvo himself end up like this too, even without using the magic granted to him by the Mark? He shuddered.

_ (-reach out for it, for them, for what you see and desire, and  _ **_take_ ** _ -) _

Daud grumbled something Corvo strained to hear - though why the other had chosen to say “damn it, Misha”, he was not sure. But it didn’t matter - Daud was a monster who had to be put down. Now, preferably.

Belatedly Corvo realized he had missed the perfect moment to kill the assassin - who, for some reason, still hadn’t tried to attack him yet, instead choosing to simply watch. And, after a few seconds of a tense staring contest, Daud spoke once more.

“When I killed your Empress and took her daughter, something broke inside me. Now, I see the design on the back of your hand, the mark of the Outsider himself, and I remember all I’ve done. All I’ve been, and all I’ve become. The years of waiting for the right moment to step forward from an alley and drive a knife between the ribs of some noble, and later foregoing the knife and just…” He gestured with the tentacles, leaving the rest of the sentence to Corvo’s imagination, then continued. 

“All the money exchanging hands, from one rich bastard or another. Killing for one of them one year, then being paid to kill him in return the next. I remember bending at the shrines, welcoming the changes, listening as the Outsider whispered that I was going to change things, that I was somehow important.

“It felt good, made me believe I was powerful. But what have I accomplished? I’ve turned into the monster I’d been seen as. I’ve had enough killing; Now I want nothing but an end to this. My misery amuses the Outsider, though - if it was up to him, I would stay like this forever, a monster whose body is not his own anymore.

“So, bodyguard, you can kill me, if you think yourself capable. I only ask for the lives of my men. Let them leave, let the Whalers fade from the city’s memories.

“Our lives are in your hands.”

Daud stayed where he was, still unmoving apart from a gentle swaying of the tentacles around him, seemingly awaiting Corvo’s decision.

Corvo himself was caught in a maelstrom of rage and hate, united in the urge to utterly destroy the man in front of him; yet, strangely enough, he felt divided. His path had led him here with the knowledge that he would kill Daud, rid the world of a monster, avenge Jessamine’s murder - but he simply accepted it, would see it as a mercy! It felt unacceptable. It  _ was _ unacceptable! 

But what else was he supposed to do - simply let Daud, the man who had bathed Dunwall in blood, Jessamine’s blood, be? Free to continue murdering whenever he felt like it? No, Corvo couldn’t do that either.

_ ‘I only ask for the lives of my men,’ _ he had said - a hostage, maybe? But Corvo dropped that thought as soon as he had it - they were trained assassins, capable of killing him as soon as he got careless. From what he had seen and heard in the Office of the High Overseer, they weren’t above killing themselves either, a generally undesirable quality for a hostage.

None of that, then. And oh, how Corvo still  _ itched _ to shove a blade into Daud’s heart and watch him bleed out, see the light fade out of his eyes the way it had left Jessamine’s. 

The monster wanted death - he would get it.

Shifting a foot back, Corvo returned to a fighting stance. His mind was made up - one of them would die here.

Daud nodded. “So be it.” His body seemed relaxed, but the tentacles were quivering. In fear, anticipation, something else? Corvo couldn’t tell. A twitch in his direction, and…

_ (-fly, hidden from view, no one can stop-) _

Corvo Blinked, reappearing in front of Daud. The tentacles were already in motion, but…

His blade slipped into the assassin’s chest with a soft squelching sound and Daud seized up, his left arm reaching out, maybe to hold Corvo back, but it was too slow, too late.

_ (-you, see you, hear you, run and-) _

Back to where he had started, Corvo threw a quick look at Daud and shuddered. Without the support of Corvo’s blade holding him up, he staggered, swayed, barely managed to stay on his feet - but that was not what had caused the reaction. Held in Daud’s hand, the one that had reached past Corvo, was one of his tentacles, stopping it directly behind what would have been Corvo’s back.

The monster - no, the man let out a soft breath. His lips formed the words ‘thank you’, then a smile, and finally he collapsed with a dull thump. One last time his body trembled, then it fell still. The wings, the tentacles, every inhuman part of his body lit up, then shattered into dark particles that were absorbed by the Mark, leaving behind an old, ordinary-looking man - a corpse. 

For a moment Corvo looked at what had been the Monster of Dunwall, then he sighed. His blade folded back into its smaller form and he tucked it away. One quick look around the office they had fought in revealed several bone charms, some money and a key.

The bone charms stayed where Corvo had found them, but the coins and key wandered into his pocket. On his way here, he had found a locked door that seemed to be a way out - instrumental in getting as far away from this place as possible before more Whalers showed up looking for Daud, or for his killer.

Without looking back Corvo strode out of the room. Jessamine was avenged, Dunwall saved from more death. All was well.

If he repeated it often enough, maybe the queasy feeling in his stomach would let him be.


End file.
